Sixteen Years
by ReadingIsMyBoyfriend
Summary: When Tobias lost Tris, it was like he lost a part of himself. His best friend hates him, and her best friend fills in as his. They help mend each other, but they can only fix so much. Until, that is, one day, a woman from Tobias' past shows up at his front door, sixteen years after Tris' death, and brings a surprise with her.
1. Chapter 1: Reunited

**Hey guys! So I was thinking, and I've been wanting to do this story for a while now, and even though I just started a new story, and people seem to like it, I don't really know where it's going. But I'm going to give this one a shot, and I want to know which one is better. Okay, here's the summary.**

When Tobias lost Tris, it was like he lost a part of himself. His best friend hates him, and her best friend fills in as his. They help mend each other, but they can only fix so much. Until, that is, one day, a woman from Tobias' past shows up at his front door, sixteen years after Tris' death, and she brings a surprise with her.

**That's all I wanted for both summaries, so it's purposely vague, although I'm sure you can figure out who one woman is, *wink wink*.**

_Sixteen Years_

_Chapter 1: Reunited_

_(sixteen years ago)_

All I'm doing is standing still.

Tris can't be dead; she just can't. I can still see her, full of life. Her bright golden hair and bold blue eyes. I can feel her hand pressed in mine, so soft and warm. But the feeling fades, like she's slipping right before my eyes.

And all I'm doing is standing still.

I can feel the life going out of me, my body succumbing to the pressure building inside me, aching to be set free. My vision goes blurry, my body numb, and I can faintly hear Christina crying, but it's blurred, like my head has been submerged in water. I feel the tears, I feel the pain, and all that's going through my head is,

She's gone. She's dead.

And all I want is one more glance, one more word, one more kiss. Just. One. More.

_(sixteen years later)_

"No!" I shoot up in my bed, the trauma still haunting me from so many years ago. I can tell I've been crying, seeing as I still am, when Christina bursts in my room.

She immediately sits down on my bed, rubbing my back soothingly.

"I know, Tobias. I know." She says quietly, while violent sobs rack my body. I hate this; I hate feeling so weak. So I pull it all back in, and I am suddenly silent.

"You've got to stop doing that, Tobias. Crying doesn't make you weak. You can't just hold in all of the pain and wish that it'll all go away." Christina scolds me.

"You think that me doing this is just because I don't want to seem weak?" I stand up, yelling. "I don't want to do this anymore! I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night, _sixteen years_ after the love of my life died! I hate that I'm still doing this, and I hate that she's gone."

She doesn't flinch. She just sits there and lets me yell. "But I can't do anything about her being dead, so there's no point in crying over it anymore." I say to her, in my calm, but deadly voice. "That is why I don't cry. It's pointless. She's gone. She's dead. ANd there's nothing I can do about it."

She looks up at me, a thin coat of tears on her eyes. "You know what today is, don't you?"

I run my fingers through my hair. "It's been sixteen years, Christina. This is always the worst day of each of those years, and each year it gets a little better."

I lie to her on purpose. Although it has gotten easier, because I'm starting to forget what she looked like. And thinking about losing her isn't as bad, because I don't remember. But that's the worst part. I'm forgetting what she looked like. I have nothing to hold onto her anymore; except for her death, and the anniversary of her death is getting worse by each year that I am changing because she isn't with me anymore.

She lightly chuckles, despite the mood. "That's a lie, and you know it."

I sigh deeply, and check the time. 2:37. "Did I wake you up?"

"What do you think?" Her face is slightly wrinkled, from years of constant frowning and crying. This night is always the worst for all of us. It's also the only night of the year that we are all together, despite the fact that Zeke hasn't forgiven me for Uriah's death. And I don't blame him. We decided a long time ago to be civil, because we work together, but he wants no part in friendship. Again, I don't blame him.

But on this day, we all have a small memorial for Tris and Uriah. It's the one time where we grieve together. I realized a long time ago that only four of us had made it out to the new city alive. Zeke, Shauna, Christina, and me. Zeke and Shauna got married, and they adopted kids since Shauna was paralyzed. Christina married some guy named Harry and had two kids, a boy and a girl, respectively named Beatrice and Uriah.

Me, I haven't dated since Tris. Sure, I've gone on a couple of first dates, but all of them didn't last after dinner. That was a couple years ago, when I thought I got over Tris' death. I realized then that I would never get over her death, and I didn't want to fall in love again ㅡ though I would never.

Of course, Caleb and Cara made it out, but I don't keep in touch with them after she died. From the sparse letters I've received they married and had a girl named Bea.

"Tobias." Christina's hand rests on my shoulder, bringing me from my thoughts.

"Sorry." I say quietly.

"I understand." She says. "Well, I better get going before Harry wakes up and wonders where I am."

I nod.

I hear my front door shut and close, and that's when I let the tears flow freely.

* * *

The next morning I woke up late, around 1:30. My eyes open slowly, and they feel heavy and stiff from crying.

I rub the sleep out of my eyes, and stand up to stretch. I go to the kitchen, and make myself a cup of coffee and toast. I silently eat and drink, while I stare at the white kitchen wall.

There's a knock at my door, and I get up to open the door.

"Hey," Christina greets me.

"Hi." I say.

"Someone wants to say hi, too." She smiles, and shifts to reveal her daughter.

I lift her up by the shoulders, her dark blond hair swinging. "Hey Bumblebee." I straighten her out and make a farting noise on her stomach.

"Toby!" She giggles.

I set her down, and she runs over to the pad and crayons I keep for her on my table. Her hair and tan skin she gets from Harry, and she has Christina's brown eyes.

"I thought we should talk." Christina says.

I nod, and pull her out of earshot.

"I think we should tell Beatrice where she got her name; Uriah too." She whispers.

"What?" I whisper-yell.

"I know she's a little young for it, but she's almost eight, and Uriah's nine, and I want to tell them about who they're named after."

"Christina, that's crazy. And especially since today's the anniversary of their death. Don't you think we should wait for a few months so it's not overwhelming? And did you even talk to Zeke about this?' I ask.

"Not yet. And what does it matter if we wait a few months? Besides, it's overwhelming whenever you do it." She argues.

"But shouldn't we wait till she's older and she understands how important this is? She'll probably just laugh about it." I say.

"Tobias, Tris is dead." She says bluntly.

"Don't you think I know that?" I practically scream.

"Mommy?" Beatrice looks at Christina and I with fearful eyes.

"Sorry, baby. We didn't mean to scare you." She goes over to her and rubs her back.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." I say.

"I think I should go," Christina says, grabbing Beatrice's small hand and gently tugging her to stand up.

"And by the way," She says. She leans and whispers so only I can hear, "I wanted you to tell her."

I don't say anything as she walks out of my apartment, and closes the door behind her with a small slam.

I exhale sharply, roughly running my fingers through my hair, and interlocking my fingers together around the back of my neck. I stand there for a while.

There's a couple of knocks on the door, and I stomp over to open it.

"Christina, I don't wantㅡ" I'm cut short when I look at the woman in front of me.

It's not Christina. She looks older, her once short hair now longer, but her eyes are the same. There's a girl behind her, too.

"Tris?" I whisper.

**I'm sure everyone saw that coming. I mean, who wouldn't? But there's a surprise for you, and I'm also guessing that now that you've read the chapter you know that, too.**

**I was hoping that this was longer, but I like the way it turned out. I also need some help deciding to either make the city have the faction system again or not. I think I know what I want to do, but if no one wants the factions, then I won't put them in. But if no one comments on it, I'll do what I want anyway.**

**Okay, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: How?

**Thank you for all of the lovely comments and follows! I'm excited to continue the story :).**

_Sixteen Years_

_Chapter 2: How?_

"T-Tris." I stutter, and stumble backwards, almost falling on my butt.

"Hi, Tobias." She says, a sad smile on her aged face.

"How-how are you _alive?_" I ask.

"Can we come in please?" Tris says, and I notice the girl behind Tris again. She's taller than Tris by a couple of inches and her dark brown hair falls in loose waves. Her light blue eyes study me.

"Um, sure. Go ahead." I make a clumsy effort to be a gentleman. My whole body is shaking. I wipe my face, and rub my eyes to make sure this isn't another hallucination.

"I'm real; alive." Tris assures me, and the other girl sits on my couch.

"But… how?" I try to be cautious. I just want to hug her and kiss her, but I need to know how the hell she's alive. I saw her body, I spread her ashes going on the zipline. So how can she be sitting right in front of me. She pulls me away from the girl, and into a secluded corner.

"Tobias," She says, getting my attention. "When I explain this to you, don't get mad or interrupt. Please."

I nod.

"Well, when I went in to the building, and David shot me, I thought I was dying. I din't. He shot me in the stomach and upper leg, but it didn't kill me. Someone ㅡ I don't know who, shot David and he passed out. The person saved me. But he or she took me away, and made another fake body of mine out of some weird material.

"But they saved me. They let me go a couple of months later, and I woke up in a city called New York."

I'm a little angry at this. I thought she was dead all this time, and she hasn't looked for me, or come back for me at all?

"Don't be angry," She tells me. "I have a reason why I didn't come back to Chicago. I didn't even know who I was. I didn't remember you or the factions, but I got my memory back piece by piece. Whoever saved my life must've wiped my memory temporarily. But when I was in New York, I was all alone. I didn't have a job or friends. That was when I found out I was pregnant."

She pauses and lets me soak in the new information. I'm frozen solid. I can't move.

"I gave birth to a baby girl, all by myself. I took care of her, and loved her by myself. I didn't know who the father was, or how I got her. So I just took care of her. But when I looked at her, and saw her grow up, I started to get back little fragments of memories."

I look at Tris, still not believing she's right here, and she has a daughter.

"Tobias." I look her straight in the eye. "When she laughed, I remembered initiation and all the rare times you laughed. When she rode a bicycle for the first time, all I could think about is, shouldn't you be with me?"

I shake my head slowly, starting to process what she's telling me.

"I saw so much of you in her." She looks over to the girl, who is now pacing around my apartment.

She looks at me again. "Tobias, that's your daughter."

And I faint.

* * *

When I wake up, the first thing I see is Tris' face.

"Ah!" I shout, shooting up.

"Sorry." She laughs. God, I missed her laugh.

I hug her tight, stroking her hair. I feel her small arms wrap around me. "I missed you so much, Tris."

She pulls back and gently kisses me on the cheek. "I missed you too, Tobias." She sits back on her heels.

"What's her name?" I whisper, referring to my daughter who is currently searching in the fridge.

Tris smiles. "Shea. I looked it up, and it means, 'stately, or dauntless one'."

For the first time in over a decade and a half, I actually feel happy. Not the kind of happy that I fooled myself into believing that I was coping with Tris' death; but actually, 100 percent ecstasy.

"I love it," I tell her sincerely, with a big smile.

"So I have to tell you one thing before you meet her officially," She says, all playfulness from her face is wiped away. "She knows about her father, but she doesn't know it's you. Also, I haven't talked to her yet about how I 'died', or about the factions or anything."

I am about to inform her about the factions today when she cuts me off. "I don't want to be caught up until we tell Shea. Okay?"

I nod, and she grabs my hand. We walk over to Shea, who is again on the couch eating an apple.

"Sorry, I was hungry." She says, through a mouth full of food.

"It's fine." I grin, and glance at Tris.

We sit down. "Okay, Shea. I'd like to introduce you to someone, and please don't freak out." Shea nods to her.

"Shea, this is Tobias."

Shea's blue-gray eyes spread wide open, and she is still for a moment, looking back and forth between me and Tris. Finally, a huge smile covers her face and she almost trips coming to hug me.

I hug her back immediately. Her frame is similar to Tris', small and thin. "Hi, dad." Shea says through her tears.

"It's nice to meet you, Shea." I said, and opened my eyes. Tris looks at me, a single tear running down her cheek, and a huge smile on her beautiful lips.

"Okay," She says, wiping off her tears, and Shea and I disconnect. "We both need to tell about something, and it'll be confusing at first."

Shea nods. "A long time ago," I start. "There was a war, and separate cities closed themselves off from the rest of the world.

"Each city, namely ours, Chicago, broke into 5 factions, or groups." We both take turns, finishing the story, and Shea sits there the whole time, nodding along. I explain the 'divergents' and the war. Tris gets to the part of when she 'died', and I think all of us got a little teary-eyed.

Once she finishes, I say, "So let me catch you up for today. There are still factions," Tris looks a bit surprised. "But divergence is no longer a problem. Just the normal faction system rebuilding itself, except they are more lenient on the 'Faction before Blood' thing now.

"I am a Dauntless leader, and so is Zeke, but we don't speak other than for work." I look down when I say this, and Tris covers her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, my god. Uriah died?" She whispers the last part, and I nod slightly. "How's Christina?" She says quickly.

I laugh a little. "She's great, actually. Except, you know." I come to a realization. "Are we gonna tell them about you?"

She nods, "Of course."

I think for a couple minutes. "How old are you, Shea?"

"Almost sixteen." She says proudly, and I glance at Tris.

"You're gonna have to choose." She says.

"I already know what I'll pick," Shea says confidently.

"Dauntless." Tris and I smile together.

God, I missed her so much.

**That was such a crappy ending, but my parents keep yelling at me because dinner's ready and I have homework. Uggghhh. This chapter was rushed and kind of crappy, but I think I am going to replace my old story **_**To Love or to Hate**_ **with another one that I've been thinking of for a while now.**

**ANyways, thanks for all of the wonderful reviews, and just incase you wanted to know, I pronounce 'Shea' like 'Shay' or 'Shai' for Shailene. HAHA! JK.**

**Okay, bye :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry, this isn't an update, but I am deciding to re-write this story, so just watch out for it. It will have the general same summary, but the new name will be _After._ I might change up some details, though. I will be deleting this story after today, though. Thanks :)


End file.
